Horizontal boring is commonly used for installing underground pipes, wires, and conduits along a prescribed bore path from the surface, with minimal impact to the surrounding area. Trenchless technology offers methods by which underground utilities may be installed without damage to overlying pavement, if proper precautions are observed.
Directional boring systems and methods using such systems are known in the art. For example, large horizontal directional drilling may be used to cut through solid rock. Depending on the local geology, different heads may be used in such drilling rigs. Underground pneumatic piercing tools are often referred to as hogs, air hogs, or pneuma-gophers. These tools may be used in the installation of public utilities, electricity, gas, phone, and cable television when it is not plausible or cost-effective to plow or trench into the ground. Some of these instances may include, under driveways, roads, sidewalks, and landscaping.
Pneumatic piercing tools are a lower cost alternative to directional boring. The tool is cylindrical in shape and uses air to pound its way through the ground underneath the obstruction. Pipe ramming may be used drive a pipe horizontally through softer soil. Auger boring or horizontal directional drilling may be useful when soil conditions are too hard for a pneumatic boring system. Pneumatic boring systems may be difficult or impossible to steer once started on their course, although they can be deflected by areas of high density. They can blindly intersect and damage a pre-existing utility installation such as a gas or water line or some other underground infrastructure. This hazard becomes more pronounced when operating in mature urban areas where historic installations may be insufficiently documented, for example.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to address the above-described, as well as other problems.